Here I present history and main features of the most important members
of the series. It's based on all TV aired episodes (the pilot included,
of course) and the novels of Peter Telep, which are (at least the first
of the two) directly based on the script(s) of Glen Morgan and James Wong,
the creators of SPACE. The list is sorted after the degree, how the person
(and/or the actor/actress) impressed me and again the ranks are from the
final phase of SPACE. And besides, I include some opinions and guesses
about these...

Captain Shane Autumn Vansen

Her parents were also commissioned officers of the USMC and she is the
oldest of three sisters, but only a few years older than the other two.

Than the silicate wars began, and one day some silicate terrorists attacked
(by pure chance) the house of the Vansens. The mother hided the three girls,
Shane at the age of five years, in a bunk space and ordered them, to keep
quiet - Shane had to control her two sisters. Finally the silicates captured
Shanes parents and murdered them below the hiding place of the three kids
with shots. To avoid a cry by her sister Lauren, Shane put her hand over
Lauren lips and she bit in Shanes hand. These few seconds of her early
life were the most important in Shanes life, determining much of her future.
Consider, that Shane was at an age, in which first occasionally impressions
can be remembered also as an adult, as usual only very strong ones - and
around this never vanishing recall a nightmare developed over years, which
Shane was totally unable to overcome. Even psychological treatment brought
no relief from that endlessly repeated (night by night) nightmare. Clearly
the hatred for silicates originated by this childhood experience and maybe
at least a part of her sometimes observed melancholy, because she could
simply never sleep easy and felt ever helpless, when she rememberd the
tragic moments.

Not only the direct event coined Shane Vansen, but also the following
time. Marine friends of her parents took the three orphans, but failed
to be real educating adults - therefore Shane took more and more the role
not only of a sister, but also as a mother for her younger sisters. These
grew more and more tired of this, and finally the younger Vansen sisters
broke with Shane. At that time Shane as some sort of young mother has matured
very fast, compared with her biological age, and got also leadership skills
by the way.

She lost the orientation a little bit, when she tried to get an adaquate
job, but for example she left a position, in which she was supposed more
to manage the development than develop by herself - clearly her leadership
skills were clearly visible despite her low age, and remembering the bad
experience with her sisters she denied it.

It is interesting, why she joined the marines. I guess, there was more
than one reason. First she wanted to escape responsibility for others -
ironically she totally failed in this respect, because even before her
commissioning she was pressed by her fellows into the leader position.
Second she wanted to overcome the helpless feeling since the childhood
tragedy. Third it fitted well to her honest, open and maybe inherited posture.
And I can't deny, that I think, there is at least a fourth, very important
reason: she might feel the need for a revenge against the silicates, despite
these were nearly wiped out at the end of the war, when Shane still was
a child, and the last of them escaped into space.

The result of all these influences was a very tough, but nevertheless
sympathetic, pretty woman of unsual mature character, who also demonstrated
outstanding performances in flying transatmospheric war planes and all
other aspects of an examplary marine officer. Together with her leadership
skills and her intelligence, the door was open for her to reach even the
highest military ranks in the farer future: will she be at some time General
Shane Vansen, you may ask?

Another thing for sure is, that there is only one way to get rid of
the nightmare, but this means end of all - it will stay with her for her
entire life.

Her 58. - The Wild Cards designation is "Queen of Diamonds" (Karo-Dame).

Semper Fidelis, Shane!

An even more detailed account of Kristens portrayal of Shane Vansen can
be found on this new page.

A final remark: the young actress Kristen Cloke, also known for a few
remarkable appearances in the X-Files and Millenium, won a prize for the
best female performance in Science Fiction 1995/1996 and is now married
to one of the creators of the show, Glen Morgan.

First Lieutenant Cooper Hawkes

He is an human being as we are - but he was synthetically generated
in a gestation tank without parents! An In Vitro, what is the neutral expression.
The worse one is tank with more or less racist tone and the worst is nippleneck,
probably comparable with "nigger" or "Untermensch". The last and worst
refers to the navel at the back of the neck, which position probably
has not only objective, but also a bad other motivation... But the In Vitroes
are really normal humans, they are not manipulated in a way, to improve
physical or other abilities, and in every respect compatible to natural
born ("In Vivo") humans - besides the navel position.

Today black or asian people are often mistreated in racist ways, and
the future of SPACE offers (evidently welcome by less honorable members
of society) a new group as target for this nasty behaviour: these InVitros.

This is necessary to mention, because otherwise Hawkes will never be
understood. He was "born" (at 18, what means, physically full developed,
but with the experiences of a young child, virtually no such) and "educated"
in Philadelphia, where he was initially trained as anti-silicate killer
(can't express this in a more soft way!), supposed to fight for the natural
borns to safe their and to threat the InVitros life. One day, after watching
a bird in the air, Hawkes asked one of the inspectors of the "school" (a
pure InVitro training facility), who monitors the birds. After that, the
inspectors considered him as defunct and one of them tried to murder him.
Warned by another InVitro, he could discern this intention at the last
usable moment and killed the inspector, who tried the same before with
him. Than he escaped the facility with the tag of the dead inspector and
tried to get a job.

I guess, that he was not hunted or punished, because killing of InVitroes
without a real reason was forbidden as for natural ones and so the facility
had no interest in a police and justice research?

Not sufficient educated at all, but requiring a life sustaining work,
he joined with his good learning skills a group of workers, building a
skyscraper. When he failed to give the right signal in a dangerous moment,
in which a technical failure (he wasn't responsible, of course) occured,
a falling structure missed one of the other workers only by a tight margin.
Later the other workers assigned the guilt to Hawkes and hunted him down
as a group. Than their leader discerned due to his expectation, that Hawkes
is an InVitro (which he had before hidden by relative long hair, hanging
over his navel); they wanted to hang him! In a moment, in which they thought,
Hawkes were dying (already hanging), Cooper used the moment off-guard by
his hunters to strike back, taking full advantage of a lack of self-control
and some sort of rage, clearly backed up by the missing education and his
extreme youth. Finally he hunted the leader, which had ordered before,
to kill him, and than a police car arrived (probably the man hunt was announced
to the police), and than the leader of the hunt used this event to escape.
Crying, that they tried to murder him and full of rage, Cooper damaged
than the windows of the car with the rod, which he had ripped of the leader
of the hunters and the police captured and arrested him.

Clearly a case of self-defence and only a minor damage of an object,
Cooper was punished as most InVitroes in a totally unfair way, receiving
a penalty by far exceeding all, what an InVivo could get for it. The judge
let him a choice, to go to arrest for a long time, or to join the USMC
for a similar time. At that time no war was on or supposed to be, therefore
Cooper chosed the Corps.

When the war with the Chigs began, Cooper considered seriously to leave
the Corps and to go to the arrest - "Why I should die for them?" (the natural
borns) he asked for example another InVitro. Eventually only the natural
born Michael Pagodin, who was ever nice and fair to Cooper, was the reason,
to stay in the USMC despite the suddenly appeared war. Later the other
marines of the 5th air wing, 58. squadron, became his friends and kept
him finally in the Corps.

He often seems reckless, is unsure (see above) of human behaviour and
unleashes fast an extreme rage, when he is provoked in any way. On the
other side, he is an extremely well sniper, with a rifle also, as in a
warplane and a very good pilot too.

His main goal is clearly to develop an adaquate human behaviour and
maturity and to keep friendships with a few people, who offered it to him,
especially Vansen, the originally hostile West and McQueen (another InVitro).

His 58. - The Wild Cards designation is "Jack of Spades" (Pik-Bube).

Good Luck, Cooper!

Also a final remark: Rod(ney) Rowland seems to be the prototype marine
actor, because in the newer TV series Pensacola he played also a Lieutenant
and fighter pilot of the USMC!

Lieutenant Colonel Tyrus Cassius McQueen

He is also an InVitro, and therefore the above general remarks hold
true also for him. He began his "career" in the military with some sort
of slavery in an ammunition depot, where the work was hard and sometimes
dangerous - only InVitroes had to work at that places. One day an explosion
were immanent and the natural born sergeant closed the door of the endangerd
building to confine the explosion, despite there were many InVitroes in.
McQueen, just out of it, knocked the sergeant down and opened the door
- but too late, the explosion occured nearly in the same moment. For his
attack against the sergeant he got "only" 100 days arrest, otherwise supposed
even a dead penalty.

It's not known, how he became a marine officer, but he made it later
and advanced quickly, despite his sometimes very arbitrary actions (compare
Hawkes!), partly because he is an outstanding transatmospheric fighter
pilot and as such became a member of the 127. squadron, the "Angry Angels"
- an elite squadron, best compared with the todays "Black Knights" (VMFA-314)
of the Marine Air Group 11. He married even a natural born woman, who he
warned about the intolerance also against her, which he knew she would
experience, and finally the marriage broke down, when his wife could no
longer bear the nasty behaviour of many people. Another problem was, that
McQueen couldn't give her a child because of a war-caused damage - for
example once silicates tortured him for at least three days. So also McQueen
lacks - nothing to wonder about - any sympathy for silicates.

So finally McQueen grew into a perfect marine, disregarding nearly every
other aspect of life and flying as one of the best. Perhaps he considered
the young members of the 58. later as some sort of childs, which he could
never get. Especially he developed a relation to Hawkes, resembling a father-son
relation.

McQueen is a very reserved person and living only for "his" Marine Corps.

First Lieutenant Nathan West

Once his girlfriend remarked, that she couldn't imagine him as a marine.
Indeed, this was not supposed to happen...

He grew up in a pacifist family alongside with two younger brothers
(irony: compare Shanes two younger sisters!), of which especially Neill,
the medium-aged of the three, developed a somewhat rivaling relation: when
they played together, Nathan had only the choice to win (age advantage!)
and saden his brother Neill, or to lose intently and upsetting Neill in
this way...

Besides Nathan is one of the - in my view - few males, who can easily
and widely accepted communicate with women in a natural and in no way twisted
way.

By some political induced action senators caused the pair Nathan West
and Kylen Celina, before this firmly nominated to fly together to the Tellus
colony, to seperate, one flying, one remaining on the Earth, with the only
option to join the USMC, in which a squadron could be commanded to protect
the newly founded two colonies. This was the original reason for West to
join! He wanted simply to get back to his girlfriend.

When time came with the staying in the Corps, he developed first slowly,
later faster the habits of an examplary marine, but he had to overcome
hatred for the Chigs, who supposedly captured or - more probably first
- even killed his girlfriend, and also the by the substitution of him by
an not prepared InVitro in the colony mission created, temporarily hatred
for InVitroes, which he NOT felt before. And so he lost this nonsensical
feeling especially against Hawkes, but also against McQueen with the time.

He is also an ace as pilot of a fighter plane, and a good rifleman and
executive officer, the right hand and lieutenant of Vansen, who is his
best friend among the marines.

His 58. - The Wild Cards desigation is "King of hearts" (Herz-König).

Farewell, Nathan!

The less dominant Characters in shorter Version

First Lieutenant Paul Wang

More like a scientist, he joined the Corps probably for character building
reasons or to get a clear direction. He grew up in slums and isn't very
sure of himself, hating and fearing cockroachs (Kakerlaken), which invaded
his privacy, when he was a child. Also clear above the average in piloting
and another USMC relevant abilities - a good shot, for example - he is
clearly no killer or somewhat similar.

His 58. - The Wild Cards designation is "Joker".

First Lieutenant Vanessa Damphousse

Grown up as child of a reactor chief, she also developed good skills
in engineering and became the another expert of the 58. She clearly lost
the direction in life at a certain time and so joined the Corps.

Her 58. - The Wild Cards designation is "Ace of hearts" (Herz-As).

Commodore Glen Ross

Despite not being a Marine, but the commanding Navy officer of the carrier
ship Saratoga, he was originally a Navy Seal and therefore in the unit,
which not belongs to the Corps, but resembles mostly to it, especially
the Recon Marines, with respect to education and posture. This is probably
the reason for the above-average good relation to the marines on board.
He plays guitarre and is especially a friend of T.C.McQueen. He was a nearly
regular member of the series.

First Lieutenant Kelly Winslow

Only a few appearances, but the only human in the series (with the above
exception of Commodore Ross), which tried to get close to McQueen, this
very self-confident and pretty young woman sometimes enriched the characters
of the main persons with another facet.

Michael Pagodin - not commissioned!

Only in the pilot, but with an important role, as first military victim
shown in SPACE, and therefore never making it into the strongly desired
fighter cockpit, he could have been also a regular cast. But he was wiped
out, before the series really began and the friendly connection with Hawkes
was the most important influence he had.